During my two-week artist residency in July 2006, the stunning scenery and diverse wildlife in the Everglades National Park made a profound impact on me. Despite the exhausting summer heat and humidity of the southern Sunshine State, I explored many locations in the park and took hundreds of photos to capture this unique and complex mix of salt and freshwater wetlands. Several pastel drawings, watercolor paintings, and digital photographs were created during my time at the residence supplied by the park. However, none of them were successful enough, in my view, to express the intense sensations that the Everglades evoked in me. “How can I showcase the multitude of distinctive characteristics of the Everglades in one artwork which I will donate to the park?” I asked.

In September, I adopted a different approach—creating a digital image, a combination of photomontage and digital painting using Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. This method allowed me to integrate multiple visual vocabularies and blend them seamlessly together. Through a narrow vertical window, this carefully crafted image provides a glimpse of the Everglades at a moment when the ancient gaze intertwines with the present breeze. Guarded by cypress trees, the boundless space of marsh and water forms the endless horizon, where the many-colored ocean and the raindrops of the golden sunset are one on summer days of dead calm. Without gigantic mountains, this flat place, a spectacular plateau with tropical profusion and vibrant life, continually fuels me with infinite inspiration.